Extended Cut: Wim Hof Explains Benefits of Cold Showers

Extended Cut: Wim Hof Explains Benefits of Cold Showers

Ellen chatted with Dutch extreme athlete Wim Hof, who is known for his ability to withstand freezing temperatures. He talked about how taking cold showers can help boost your energy and increase blood flow, how he got into cold therapy, and shared that you can practice his techniques at home using his Wim Hof Method mobile app.

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Our next guest is a
Dutch extreme athlete known for his
ability to withstand freezing temperatures. He's also dedicated his
life to helping others reach their full potential. From the Netherlands
please welcome Wim Hof. [APPLAUSE] Hi, Wim. Hi, Ellen. Thank you for having
me in your show. I am– You're incredible. You are incredible. I have been looking
forward to meeting you for a long, long time. I talk about all the time. Justin Bieber was on the show. We were talking about
how incredible you are. Explain how you've
discovered this cold therapy and explain it to people
who don't know what you do. I'm a person like
anybody else yet I wanted to know the
depths of myself. So I plunged into
esoteric disciplines, into religions, traditions,
languages, all kinds of things but nothing could really
satisfy me up till the point that I met this
freezing cold water. I went in and I felt
like there were no words but I felt this is it. This made me connect so
deeply with my physiology, with the depth that we're
seeking for which is not in the books but it
is inside yourself and the cold knows
how to unlock that. So that made me go, like 46
years ago into the cold water. And I never skipped
one day of not going into icy water in
winter time since then. I'm 62 now. It's amazing. So most people go into– what's the temperature of
that water for instance? That is like, is it 31 degrees
Fahrenheit, is like freezing. Yes, freezing. It is sometimes colder than– when it's frozen
over is when I go in. I make a hole and
I'm in the water. And I do my deep experienced
breathing techniques staying in the water,
it's like deep meditation. It's incredible. You look at that– we're
looking at the video right now, most people would go into
hypothermia, not everyone. And you teach these breathing
techniques to get ready. But you say there are three
pillars to your method and explain what those are. That is specific
breathing techniques and then we have gradual cold
exposure and we have mindset. And because I went
through science it showed to be
capable, for example, to defy a bacteria injected. That means a deeper physiology
and physiological control over the immune
system is there and it is so simple and accessible
and anybody can do it. Yes, And we'll get
to the cold shower because I think that's
how most people can start, but explain how this
affects your nervous system. Yes, by going in a acute,
deep, stressful exercise you activate the
adrenal axis to spike. And that resets the body
to its natural depth by which the physiology
suddenly awakens into depth and gets in the
control of our will. And that's amazing. Yeah, I'm looking at that
thinking I can't do that. I don't think I could
sit on that ice. And I mean I'd like to because
I want to meet you someday and I do want to try it. But this is something that
everyone can practice. Some people should not
do it, is that right? Like I mean– Of course. Yes. So of course, people
with a poor condition or conditions of say chronic
diseases and so on we have developed by
protocols a method– we have developed a method
that is accessible for anybody even with conditions. And if we go and look
at what I've been doing, I have been a
researcher of this all. I went to the North Pole,
I went up Mount Everest all in my short, into
the desert, running without drinking a marathons,
and going under the ice and losing my weight. I was the searcher now I
found that a cold shower a day keeps the doctor away. As simple as it is that
my message to the world is to bring something
very accessible and powerful to the
human understanding. And it is all
scientifically endorsed. So it is not difficult
it is, a matter of doing. Yeah. So if you take for
instance– this is fascinating when
I read– if you take a cold shower it raises
your dopamine level 250%. Absolutely. In for example, a
depression there is a lack of noradrenaline
and dopamine. And going in to a
cold shower raises the level of noradrenalin
with 530%, dopamine with 250%. It's a natural pill that
has no side effects. Yeah. I think a lot of
people here are going to start taking cold showers. I mean I enjoy a hot shower. Does that do anything
for you Wim or no? Do you ever take a hot shower? I love hot showers. OK, I do– I love it– I do, too but– yeah, go ahead. Oh, sorry. Yes, the cold this
therapeutical. And once you get used
to the cold showers it becomes really addictive. It's a power boost to the body. Afterwards did your
veins are so exercised that the blood flow is
much better by which you get a lot more energy. And the heart rate is going
down because of the millions of little muscles in
the vascular system are all optimized and
they help the heart, the blood flow go
through the system. So the heart rate goes down. People who do regular cold or
showers, cold showers the heart rate goes down with 20 to 30
beats a minute 24 hours a day. Wow. That means no stress,
high levels of energy. Well, first of all
look at you, you're 62 years old as you said. And what time is it
where you are right now? It is half past 12. So in the morning it's
yeah, half past 12. Yes. OK. And then what time
will you wake up in the morning to get in
the freezing cold water? It's around between 6 and 7. OK.

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